Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Parks programs, fun in the snow, and a new pet

We went to two separate programs with Hamilton County Parks (Cincinnati) this past weekend. Both were completely free. These first pictures are from Saturday at the visitor center at Miami Whitewater Forest. Besides their regular displays that are always there (but were new to us), they had additional activities, crafts, and information about beavers.

The playground outside the Visitor's Center.

On Sunday we went to a great program at Winton Woods about herpetology, which Riley is especially interested in. The snow apparently kept a lot of people home -- we were the only ones there besides one other Mom and a boy about Riley's age. The park naturalist who did the program was *awesome* -- friendly and engaging and had pulled together so many resources and ideas. We all learned a lot and had a great time and were so glad we trekked out again to go to this.

Back at home, enjoying the rare treat of sledding on the leftover snow on a comfortably warmish (40-something) day.

I love to go to Sharon Woods. In the winter, it is especially good for people who like to avoid cold weather like my kids & I do -- they have a great, 2-story indoor playground in their Visitor Center. It only costs around $2-3per child. I think one of the salamander programs Maya wants to go to is going to be at Sharon Woods.

Fun! When my kids were little Keith was working in Minneapolis. A six month assignment turned to four years. We used to visit him three or four times a year (and he came home for ten days a month).

ANYway, in those days and maybe still, the children's museum there (in St. Paul, I think) had a ant costumes and a kid-sized ant-world, with tunnels, and a room for eggs and stuff to gather and move around.

"Little children love the world. That is why they are so good at learning about it. For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought, that lies at the heart of all true learning. Can we bring ourselves to let children learn and grow through that love?"